Xela

Last semester in my AI class there was a section in logic where they used the example that each person can has a left leg, but no person can have more than one left leg.  We were supposed to write this out in a particular first order logic notation using funny symbols.  Well, maybe nobody has more than one left leg, but last night at salsa lessons I proved that it's possible to have two left feet.  Ok, maybe I wasn't that bad, but I still have the hardest time with the "open" and the spins.  Actually, I think I had the exact same problems I had a few years ago when I took a lesson or two.  I can get the basic movement, but once you have to switch it up my feet want to stick with the original rhythm and moving one foot back when it wants to go forward, or remembering which foot it is that's supposed to go back just throws me off.  I think it only made matters worse that after learning my part, I looked over and tried copying the part that the maestra was showing Karen -- that would of course be the girls part... 
We kind of got it down in the end though and now maybe we just need to practice alot before going back for another lesson... 
Today we went to a glass blowing factory in lieu of class -- or rather in the middle of class.  So it was 1 hour of class, then a field trip followed by one more hour of class.  Little did they bother to check that all the glass factory workers were on holiday so the shop was open, but there was no glass blowing to be seen.  Just a video...  Pobre Karen.  I've seen glass blowing a number of times before but this would have been her first time.
Tomorrow we don't have class because it's the weekend, but we do have a field trip to a nearby volcano.  I'll have to be careful not to trip and fall in =)  After that one of the other students was hoping we'd go with her to another town nearby (maybe a few hours by bus) and come back Sunday, but I think we'd rather just stay here and relax.  After all, I have my first homework to do -- el preterito (past tense). 
Take care,
J

on the road again...

Seems like I've probably started a few blogs with that comment before, but it's such a comforting and familiar feeling to me =)  Of course this time things are a little different.  It took a year, but I succeeded in my plans of corrupting the girl I met just before Costa Rica into quitting her job, selling her car, trashing half of her belongings and storing the other half (she isn't quite as dematerialized as I am...) and travel the world with me. 
So with little more than our backpacks, one way tickets to guatemala and two week reservations at an intensive spanish immersion school located in quetzaltenango (aka xela), we were off.  Our 2:05 am redeye flight became a night on the floor in O'hare followed by a morning flight, so we were tired when we arrived in Guatemala City, but no jetlagged -- it's directly south of Chicago so there is NO time change!  Our second day we rushed off to a bus station only to find the bus was scheduled for half an hour than we expected which gave us plenty of time to have a delicious breakfast of eggs, cheese, tortillas, black beans and plantains.  mmmmmm.  All that for jus over a buck =)
Now we're in Xela and we've just had our first morning of spanish instruction.  In a few minutes we need to head back for the evening activiy -- salsa y merengue lessons! 
The family we're staying with is very friendly and I'm sure after a few more days Karen will get over her shyness and start yammering away en espanol.  Until hen we'll just have to work no our vocab =)
I guess that's it for now though.  Time to dance the night away.
Hasta la proxima,
J

Je deteste les trains francais

Well I survives two nights in Paris and made it the INSEAD Q&A session (10 minutes late) so I'm happy to say I acomplished my goal for the weekend.  It also looks like I'll even be making it back to the farm without too much adventure. I really should have figured out today's travel schedule yesterday while I was at the station so I could guarantee my seats, but I was too tired at the time. Today when i arrived I checked the bus schedules from the two towns I could travel through and realized I was actually cutting it quite close.  Fortunatley I made it through te long reservation line in time and there was still a seat available.
Now here's where the obligatory ranting and raving comes in.  I hater the french train system.  To be fair, the british system is probably even worse - for some reason there seats are smaller than most planes - I seriously couldn't sit in them without facing some awkward diagonal direction or amputating my legs.  The french trains are much better in that regard - unless, as so often happens to be the case for me, you're assigned one of the table seaats where four people share a little table and the same legroom.  The other day I had the misfortune of having  to upgrade to first class to get where I wanted to go.  But I still ended up in a table seat. Being in first class it  was just two people facing each other, not four. Even so, i'm not so sure wha was first class about it. There was no water in the bathroom (no spiegs, i didn't soap up before discovering that ;-) and I had to sit sideways to fit in my seat. The table was to low - my legs didn't fit under it.  At least not if i didn't slide my feet all the way under my seat at an uncomfortable angle.
One day i'm going to build scale model furniture exactly 10 percent smaller than normal so that people who are 5'8" can see why those of us who are 6'3" are always squirming in our seats and inevitably develop so mant back problems.
So today is like any other. I'm across from another relatively tall guy who was kind enough to trade seats with a short girl that wanted to sit next to her friend. These seats should be reserved for couples because in order to fit across from each other we've both had to spread our legs and precariously weave them together with each of our knees in the other's crotch.  Couples or short people. The ticket people need a bi button to say 'tall passenger' avoid seats 51-58 at all cost.
The real problem with the train system here though is the sevice. It's not limited to the train system either. The other day I walked up to the information desk at the toulouse bus station and said I wanted go to cazaubon. The attendant plays with her computer for a minute and the asks me which bus line that is.  I look at the sign that says information and think, "why would i be talking to yoiu if i knew that?" I pulled out the slip where i had written down which towns the bus stopped at. They said there was a bus that left at the time I expected abd went to the first town on my list, but they didn't know if I could change to another bus there. I asked another person. Same response. So then i tried to buy a ticket. No. This wasn't a sails desk, just travel information. You buy the ticket on the bus.  When the bus arrived, the sign on the  front of the bus listed all the towns i had expected.  S somebody tell me, what was the point of the disinformation desk? Job creation i suppose.
Everywhere seems to be the same though. The bus drivers and train conductors seem to know what they're doing.  But once you get into the station they're really mostly all useless.  It'd like the stereotypical dmv worker in the states. Any little thing you ask is greeted with an agonizing sigh of, "oh no, you can't be serious. You want me to do my job?" YES! That is after all why you're here, isn't it?
I was hoping it would be a bit diferent now that I can speak a smattering of french. Clearly there's much more o infiltrating the system than just that.  Maybe one of these days.

Uexpected diversions

I've decided to take a sudden detour on my way to staying where I was. I've spent almost a week at the most recent farm/country cottage and I had no intention of leaving for another week or so, but then yesterday morning I finally got around to looking up some information on a university near Paris that I was hoping to visit while I was in the country.  That's when I discovered they give guided tours every friday afternoon. I fly out from paris a week from wedesday so that only leaves tomorrow and next friday. Unfortunately next Friday also happens to be a national holiday so that really just leaves tomorrow.  I could also call to arrange another time, but I'd rather go at one of the standard times in the hope that I won't be the only obe there. It would be nice to see who else is interested in going as well as size up the competition so to speak.
So this morning after moving some gravel, I took a quick shower and packed a few things in my day bag. My host dropped me at the bus station and now I'm on a train to paris. It took me forever yesterday to find a place to stay - one of the many downsides to traveling during peek tourist season, but I finally did. So I'll be spending two nights in Paris and taking a day trip into Fontainebleau tomorrow. 
The gite (a french word for vountry cottage pronounced jeet only with the j sounding more like the 's' in measure) is beautiful. There's a big barn, some wooded area, some prairie, a large set of vegetable gardens and a small natural pond which is continually filled by an underground spring flowing out of an old well. She's building a half court basketall court next to the barn for when her son (and any other fans) visit - that's where i was moving gravel this morning.  She's also renovating and fishing the interior of the barn to make a workshop/art studio. Yesterday we spent part of the morning painting the masonry exterior wih paint made from water, lime, dye and fermented pee :-)  Talk about marking your territory! I've also spent some time weeding, mulching and picking vegetables in the garden as well as demonstrating my new found skill at cutting down blackberry brambles with the oversized weed wacker.
It's been fun and relaxing though and the food albeit not particularly french, is delicious. Most of it comes straight from the garden. I do regret not being forces to practice my french more, but at this point I was greatful for the opportunity to save some money and I'm enjoying my time.
Take care all,
J

Disoriented in Dijon

As usual I haven't even come close to keeping in touc nearly as much as I'd hoped. From a blogging perspective that is.  On the other and I've spent a lot of my time everday keeping in touch with my girlfriend back home. Skype and google chat have beek great for that. Still, a number of people have asked what's the point of being away from home if so much of my day is spent online? I could pose the reverse question though - what's the point to staying home? This time that answers obvious - my girlfriend...
I guess you could also argue though that in this day in age life is simply a matter of what you do between the times you're online. And from that perspective I've done alright. Had i stayed home it's unlikely I would have scraped the bark off any logs to make posts for fences. I probably wouldn't have taken the goats out to pasture or had the fun of nursing the enthusiastic little calibo with formula mixed in a wine bottle or helping steady justine while we put a cast on her sprained or broken front limb. Nor would I have learned to identify stinging nettle (unfortunately although i can now identify it, i still could work a bit on learning to avoid it).
None of it was particularly hard work. Cleaning out the stable wasn't exactly pleasant, but it was all new and interesting and definitely a learning experience.  And after two weeks I could see a clear improvement in my french (not that i'll maintain any of it).
So I'm glad I came. Since then, england and ireland were fun but expensive. Karen didn't have the same luxury of time so it didn't make sense to sacifoce time for money. I hit a few roadblocks witth my eurail pass. It would have been much better had I taken the time to get that before I left.  After all the money spent in the UK i've decided to tighten the belt and save money by spending some more time on a farm. That left me with too little time to make over to germany in between to visit friends (believe me, i tried). Instead I stayed a day in Strassbourg and two nights in Dijon - which leads us to the title.  I booked my hostel in the morning before leaving Strassbourg so I would't have to hurry out of town or worry about showing up somewherw without anywhere to sleep. Before leaving my wifi connection i made sure to write down the directions:

In 30 minutes, from the S.N.C.F. train station, we propose you to reach Éthic Étapes Dijon:
So, walk to the "SÉVIGNÉ" bus stop (3 minutes) / Take the L7 bus to "Toison D'Or" then get off at the "CLÉMENCEAU" bus stop / Wait 10 minutes for the bus connection / Take the L4 bus to "CAP NORD – CRAM" then get off at the "ÉPIREY – CRI" bus stop / You've just arrived!

Sounded a bit far, but simple enough.  Now let me preface this next part by saying i never again took the bus.  The train station was only a half  hour walk from the hostel, but it took me two hours to get there my first night by bus.  Here's why.  First problem - find the bus stop. Should be easy enough. I walk out of the train station and there are huge signs saying "Orientation."  They should have said "Disorientation!" I look on the map and see 'you are here.' Just below that I see Sevigne and the number 7 bus line.  Great.  I look at my compass and start heading south. Half an hour later I'm back at the train station looking at the map again. My compass must be broken!  Actually i'm starting to question the map.  I eventully find the bus stop but the next day when i return on foot i compare the station's map to the one they gave me at the hostel. Sure enough, the station map is turned sideways.  Somebody in there infinite wisdom went through a lot of trouble to have maps printed up with north being  to the right.   They unfortunately failed to include a north arrow.
Problem two - by the time I find the bus stop it's already after hours and there are only two busses per hour.  I waited 20 minutes. There was a schedule so i knew how long i had to wait and i was tempted to walk to the next bus, but i was also afraid i'd get lost again (bare in mind i didn't know at this point why the maps were so confusing - that and the bus stop maps were fine so they contradicted my current disorientation).
Problem three - apparently after hours the busses follow an alternate route. When I see my stop appear on the bus monitor, I hit the stop button and get off.  According to the directions, "I'm here."  Great. Where is here? No sign for a hostel anywhere in site. I walk around a bit and finally go back to look at the bus stop map.  Interesting.  The name at the bus stop isn't the stop I wanted to get off at. Even more interesting, the bus i was on doesn't service this stop - or even go down this street.  I'm beginning to hate Dijon. I make my way up to the street and bus stop where I was supposed to get off and start looking again.
Problem four - with a name like ethices etapes and directions like that, you'd think they might want to have a sign that was visible from the bus stop. No. They don't even have a sign. And the main entrance is around the corner. At this point i'm regretting that i failed to write down the address or phone number. I start looking around for an open internet connection and thankfully find one. When i find the address it turns out i'm standing at the door. Nice! But it's locked.  I ring it and wait. Fnally I walk around the corner and see the main entrance. Only after entering do i see the name written on the welcome matt inside.
Somebody really needs to fix those directions!

Hello world!

Ha! Ok i suppose that's one of those jokes only my dorky programmer friends will have any chance of appreciating that one.
Anyway, i'm back! And let me just take a moment to complain about this keyboard ;-)
Sorry, couldn't help it. Actually, no complaints. I'm sitting in a starbucks near times square writing this from my nokia n800 (affectionately known as nate). This time around i'll be able to stay in touch with skype - something i couldn't do last time with my palm.
I haven't actually left the country yet, but i feel more like out on the road on my own. My friends aunt and uncle were gracious enough to put me up for two nights after their daughter's wedding. This morning they dropped me off at the train station leaving for new york. When the train arrived (right after i got there) i hadn'r yet purchased my ticket. I was in no hurry and didn't want to get on the wrong train so i let it go. When i finally bought my ticket and found the train schedule i realized the next train wasn't coming for two hours. I decided to go for a walk. That's when i realized the train was only a fifteen minute walk from their house!
So i stopped back in and had indian left overs for lunch :-) then i walked back and caught the next train.
Now i'm just killing some time and chilling (and IMing with my girlfriend...) Before my flight to paris tonight.
Must go now though before rush hour pedestrians!
A bientot

Amazonian savages!

Yes, I know it's been a while, but I have a really good excuse!  Three months ago I was kidnapped by a group of amazonian peasant refugees and held captive in the jungle with nothing to eat but mushrooms and tree bark!  They were holding me ransom but as they were a primitive tribe, they had no familiarity with modern day technology and the ransom letter was rolled up and thrown down river in a bottle.  Luckily it was eaten by an anaconda which was later caught by a poacher, slaughtered and made into boots which were subsequently bought by a visiting New York celebrity.  Unfortunately as she was also a well known spokesperson for PETA, she obviously couldn't come forward and reluctantly threw the ransom letter in her recycling bin.  Fortunately she was also the target of an identity theft ring which had been monitoring her recycled mail for months to gather credit card information.  In the midst of a moral epiphany, one of the white collar criminals repented from his ways and decided to turn over a new leaf and redeem himself by saving me.  The unnamed celebrity has graciously offered not to press charges against him in exchange for her continued anonymity. 
Ok, I confess, that's not the real reason I've been absent from my post.  Would you believe I was hitchhiking with Peruvian midgets along the Panamerican highway when....
Actually it's much simpler than any of that.  It's also slightly more embarrassing, yet most of you probably knew it was inevitable from the start. 
I met a girl.
Here's the less likely part.  I met her while I was in Chicago.  Two nights before I left for Costa Rica I met her out at a bar.  We kept in touch while I was on the road (for all of three weeks) and I finally decided to high tail it back home and get to know her better.  I really was having banking complications, but if I'd wanted to, I'm sure I could have sorted those out remotely. As an epilogue to the banking story though, Citibank never sent my new ATM card to San Jose.  They sent it to Chicago.  After returning I immediately proceeded to open three bank accounts and yet somehow I still have as yet to close all my accounts with Citibank as I promised them I would...  Idle threats I guess.
So what have I been doing with myself for the last three months in Chicago?  Pretty much enjoying the same lifestyle I enjoyed on the road. Mostly relaxing.  I got a job at Starbucks and signed up for classes at UIC.  The semester started last week, so things have started to get a little busy.  I'm taking french, economics, statistics and linguistics.  All for fun. 
I do miss being on the road, but I'm happy and don't regret my decision to come back.  I don't expect I'll be keeping up this blog much anymore, but you never know... 
Take care all,
Jf

The hardest part is knowing where you are...

In order to get where you want to go, you first have to know where you are.  And it seems to me that no place is that harder than in San Jose, Costa Rica.  Ok, that may be a little bit of an exageration, but the grid system they use here is so simple that finding a location should be as easy as one, two, three.  I remember somebody saying when I was young that avenues go east west and streets go north south.  Of course I grew up on east west Main Street right between Central and Linder Avenues, so the rule didn't seem so set in stone.  That's exactly how it works here though.  You have Avenidas which travel east west and Calles which travel north south.  Unlike the northern parts of Chicago, you don't even need to remember the order of street names.  Either they lack creativity here, or they just love simplicity because the streets all have numbers -- accept of course Avenida Centrale and Calle Centrale. 
It took me about a day to figure out how you'd know if you were looking for the east or west 21st Street.  I thought it was just coincidence that all the street signs I saw east of central happened to be odd numbers...  It's a good thing I never had to walk from 21st street to 20th street because I would have had a long way to go.  Basically all the avenues and streets north and west of central have even numbers and south and east have odd numbers.  I have no clue how the addresses or house numbers themselves work, but usually directions are given with an avenue and street number followed by a the avenues or streets between which your destination is located.  So it would seem that finding a location would be incredibly easy, and it would, if only they had a little thing called street signs here. 
If your lucky, you might find a street sign on the side of a corner building.  That only seems to be the case about ten percent of the time though.  I've had to walk three blocks out of my way just to figure out what road I was on.  So basically, if you have one, don't throw out your GPS just yet...
It's nice in San Jose.  We're up in the hills about a thousand meters so the temperature is generally a nice comfortable 70 degrees or so.  Since I've arrived every day has been pretty much the same.  The clouds disperse and the sun shows through around ten in the morning and then it cools down a bit in the afternoon when the skies cloud over again around three.  In the evening it drizzles on and off unpredictably. 
I'm loving the food!  Gallo Pinto is one of my favorites.  Its a mixture of black beans and rice generally served with eggs and plantaines.  I finally figured out what Casado is.  Apparently that just refers to black beans and rice (but served separately on the side rather than mixed together as with Gallo).  Casado means married and today when I asked the girl at the hostel what exactly Gallo is, she said it means Honey Moon.  So I can only imagine that in the honey moon stage of a relationship the wife is nice enough to actually go through the extra step of mixing the beans and rice together whereas a long time married guy just gets a spoon or rice and a spoon of beans unceremoniously slopped onto his plate.  Or maybe married women just quickly realize their husbands aren't stupid and can mix the beans and rice together themselves...
I think I've cleared up my credit card problems, although I probably shouldn't count my chickens until they've hatched.  Citibank should be sending a new card to a corporate office I located in a suburb of San Jose.  When the card arrives they'll call my hostel to let me know.  Today I let the girl at the front desk know, but she seemed reluctant to say that they would be able to take a message for me let alone pass it on.  Actually that's putting it lightly.  She said, no, they couldn't.  I'm also wondering how I'm going to get the pin number.  I have a feeling my struggles have only just begun...  I also noticed today that my online banking is apparently connected to my atm card.  This makes absolutely no sense to me.  I lost my ATM card.  It's not like I wrote my login or password on the card!  Why would security protocols dictate that they have to shut off my online access?  Suppose I had a back up card with another bank and I needed to wire money over to it, cutting off my online access because I'd lost my atm card would lock down any ability I had to do that. 
In two words, Citibank Sucks. 
Actually, the reason I went to log onto my citibank account was because they'd apparently sent me a message.  I wonder if the message says, 'Thankyou for contacting us about your lost citibank atm card, we are now canceling that card and blocking off all access to your online account so you will be unable to see this message.'
Oh yeah, one last thing I know most of you are waiting to hear...  The keyboards here are a pain =)

Aargh!!!

Well, I guess it was bound to happen eventually.  I lost my bank card today.  I left it in the bank machine at the airport...  I guess a year of using idiot proof machines in europe and asia that won`t even spit out your money until you`ve taken your card back has gotten to me.  That and the absolute exhaustion. 

I noticed my card was missing when I went to pay for lunch.  Unfortunately I also made a second mistake when I took the original money out -- I thought I was gettng about 200 dollars worth or currency, but instead I only took out 20.  So I`m already low on money here and I have no way of getting more.  I guess I`ll be breaking into the cash and travelers checks early this trip.

No worries though.  I didn`t panic.  It`s not the end of the world, just a bit of a nuisance.  Calling the bank to report it was harder than I ever expected.  I looked up the number and the collect number they list for if you`re calling from out of the country refused to accept the charges.  Then I paid international rates to call the american toll free number.  When you`re calling a number specifically designed to report your card has been lost or stolen, why is the first thing they ask for the card number?  And why do they make it so hard to get through to an operator without giving that card number?  And why exactly did my online bank give me the number to report a lost credit card?  I didn`t lose my credit card, I lost my ATM card.  Fortunately I caught the customer service reps mistake when he mentioned the last transaction on the card -- no, that was another card, I didn`t lose that one!  Please don`t cancel it!!!!  Hopefully he didn`t. 

Let`s just say this is Citibank`s third strike.  I`m not happy with them and I`ll definitely be looking to move more of my business to other banks now...

home sweet home...

Well, I'm "back home" in koh tao again.  I should know by the feel of the crappy keyboard under my fingers...

 

Not too much to say about bangladesh.  I basically spent three weeks hanging out in a hotel room watching hbo.  We arranged some containers on a barge and I learned how to signal the difference between boom down and chain down to a crain operator, but aside from that I didn't really learn much.  Theoretically I could get called back, but based on my last experience, I expect the chance that they'll have things ready to equipment training before the end of this week to be pretty slim, and there isn't much point to sending me back there for seven days...  So I expect I'll live out the rest of my trip here in home sweet home koh tao...  

 

It's actually been a dream of a home coming.  The last day or so has gone about as perfectly as one could imagine.  After arriving in bangkok yesterday I spent seven hours on a local bus with 50 or so of my closest thai friends.  The only other foreigners were a German man and his son (or so I thought), as chance would have it, sitting right behind me.  The "father" asked me an hour or so into the ride in german wether I was german or english.  I said "beide, oder das heisst ich kann beide, ich bin aber ami..."  (both, or rather I can speak both.  I'm american thoguh.)  Then we launched into a bit of a conversation about whether or not the bus would make any stops along the way. I said with a seven hour bus ride and no bathroom aboard I couldn't see how it wouldn't...  When we finally arrived in chumporn (a town anlong the coast where I was going to spend the night before taking a ferry over to koh tao) I asked if he knew his way around, and more specifically if he knew how to get to farang bar (a friend had recomended the hotel across the street).  He did one better and said his wife and kids were picking him up and they could offer me a ride!  Sweet!!!!  It turned out his "son" was actually his son's friend and his son and daugther were already there to meet him.  We all squeezed into a car and took headed over to a travel agent who they knew and with whom they were staying, and more importantly who arranged a room for me and a ferry ticket in the morning. 

 

So I splurged.  Stayed in a nice posh hotel with AC for 10 bucks and slept in until noon.  Took the taxi (truck) with 20 or so of my best friends to the ferry and made it over here a little after three this afternoon.  One of the girls on the taxi, who was clearly a regular coming back from a visa run, looked a bit familiar.  On the boat I noticed she was reading a german magazine (yeah, I know, I'm such a stalker).  When I got off the boat I saw her sitting around and asked (in german) how long she'd been on koh tao. 

 

"A year.  "

 

"Oh, really, where do you stay?"

 

"Chalok ban kao."

 

"Oh, wow, that's where I stayed too, no wonder you looked familiar, I must have seen you around.  Where did you dive?"

 

"Big bubble."

 

"Oh, I know sophia.  (blank stare) And Sandra."

 

"Yeah!  Sandra.  Did you do your open water with her?"

 

"No, but some friends of mine did."

 

Whatever, the details of the conversation don't really matter.  The important part is -- I got a free ride out of it!!!!  She was waiting for somebody who was coming to get her and offered me a ride back.  It was the big bubble truck, but they didn't charge me -- the bastards at buddhaview would have...  More importantly, it was a good feeling to be back where I knew people =)  And that was only the start of my good luck streak.  I asked how things were and she said busy ( i.e. good luck finding a place).  Well, good luck was all I had.  The first place I checked was the spot where I stayed last time.  Right away I saw Heinz -- a fifty something northern german guy who instructs at a mostly danish dive shop and has a thai wife and a one or so year old girl name jenny.  The "landlord" was installing a toilet in his place so I went around back and asked if he had a room for me.  Nope.  Oh well.  Didn't expect one -- especially since I was only going to be there for two weeks.  As I was walking away though they called after me.  Apparently somebody had checked out that morning and he didn't realize it.  He showed me the room and it looked fine to me so I took it!  So I was back a few minutes and already I had a place to stay -- right next to the room I stayed in last time...

 

So like I said, it's good to be home again. 

 

Tonight I met a few people from the new crowd.  When I introduced myself I said, "Hi, I'm Jeff".  Ok, This is something only Jared and his gang would get, but there are people I've introduced myself to as "Jeff" who simply say, "Hi Jeff, it's nice to meet you."  Then half an hour later they discover I'm "Jeff Hansen" and suddenly they're like, "OH, you're Jeff Hansen! I've heard so much about you!"  So tonight was a little bit like that.  I've only once met one other Jeff on the island -- which given how many Jeff's I've known in my life is a bit strange.  Nice, but strange.  So a little after meeting me, somebody suddenly said, "wait, are you NAKED Jeff?"  Uh, Yeah, I guess that would be me.  Apparently I have a reputation and a whole new moniker for when I put my name up on the dive board =) 

 

Ok, it's late, and I've decided to assist a friend on the last day of an open water course tomorrow -- he was assisting, but the instructor got in an accident, and as he's not an instructor it was all to convenient for him to take the course over, so I might as well take over as assistant =)  And as it was raining buckets this evening, I didn't do much in the way of partying, so here I am closing the night out with a blog entry...

 

So I'll be off to bed now.

 

Let me just close with this.  Yeah mom, I heard about the fact that Sanjoy's barbeque party is the weekend before I'm coming home.  And yeah, I'm a bit bummed that I spent and extra 200 dollars to come home before the labor day weekend in hopes that we could hold it then only to find that they'd already scheduled it for the weekend before... But no, I wouldn't want them to change it on my behalf... Especially since some people won't be there for labor day weekend...  We'll just have to have a second bbq party I guess.  A welcome back party or something...  Oh well. 

 

By the way,  I'm back in touch with Hina.  She wants to see everybody.  I told her she was invited to Sanjoy's bday, so invite her.

 

Good night all =)

 

 

Working life

It's funny.  When I'm walking around the streets of KL, I have so much going through my head lately that you'd think I'd have plenty to say.  But then for some reason, I sit down in the internet cafe and suddenly I go brain dead.  Ok, maybe not brain dead, just too vacant and lazy to bother writing anything...  Maybe just uninspired.  Or maybe just too disorganized. 
I've been reading a lot since getting here which has been nice.  Sure, I could do that anywhere, why do I need to be in Malaysia?  Uh, no real good reason, but then again, suppose you wanted to take a year off and just read all those books you've had lined up on your to do list?  Where would be the best place to do it?  Hmm, probably some place nice, comfortable, with lots of amenities, and above all else, somewhere cheap!  Unfortnately KL isn't the cheapest place I've been, but then again this isn't where I'd go if I was going to take a year off and just read.  I'd probably go to some remote hill top where there were no distractions...  As expensive as it is here, it is cheaper than home.  If you look at the Big Mac factor, a double cheese burger value meal here is only 7.15 RM -- that's just over two dollars.  Back home it would be at least three something.  Movies are only about three dollars and if I wanted to live real spartain like, I could have stayed in a dorm bed for three dollars a night too -- originally I did, but then after two nights sharing a room with some of the sketchiest bunkmates I've run into I upgraded to a private room for twice that amount.  Actually the two main expenses I've hit are going out to clubs which charge obnoxious covers (and which I haven't frequented for just that reason) and buying books.  Frequent trips to starbucks to escape the heat also have a way of adding up...
The time has finally come for me to leave it all behind though.  I've long since sorted out all the annoyances of getting my visa and tonight I head up to Bangladesh.  I know one of the main reasons I left home to travel around the world was my, err, shall we call it "reluctance" to work, but I'm looking forward to what I'm sure will be an interesting experience.  As I've never done anything like this before, I hope to learn a lot even though I have no idea quite what it is I should expect to learn...
At any rate, I don't think I'll be going on line much while I'm in Bangladesh for two reasons.  First I imagine I'll be busy working and second I don't expect the barge I stay on will have much of an internet connection -- somewhat ironic considering the barge will be carrying about 8 kilometers of fiber optic cable...
Ok, I'm going to go soak up my last few hours of western civilization. 
Take care,
Jf

More than meets the eye...

Transformers.  Robots in disguise...

Malaysia rocks -- I just saw Transformers in a theater (i.e. completely legally) for three bucks and before it was released in the states =)  I don't care what the critics were saying.  So what if it would only ever appeal to twenty/thirty something guys who grew up with the toys -- it was awesome!!!!  It actually came out last Friday but then I was in a small town in the hills with no movie theater. 

Now I'm in Kuala Lumpur.  Very metropolitan.  I spent the morning getting all the things I need for my work visa application but didn't get to the embassy early enough to drop it off so I'll have to do that tomorrow.  Then I hung out at the twin towers -- didn't go up though (I'll stop by early tomorrow morning and see if I can get a ticket to visit the sky bridge).  I was amazed by how american the mall seemed.  Reminded me of 900 North Michigan (or is it 600...) in Chicago.  There was a Chile's, California Pizza Kitchen, Auntie Annes and pretty much all the upscale clothing stores you'd expect to see all over the Magnificent Mile. 

The hills were a nice break from the heat.  It was actually cold at night.  Unfortunately now my body has to adjust back to the heat and humidity. 

Not really too much else to say.  I'm a bit tired and need to get to bed so I can get up early and head back to the embassy.  Not sure exactly when I'll be leaving for bangladesh, but it sounds like it'll be soon. 

Happy 4th everybody back home.  Enjoy your day off -- I know I will =)

 

On the road again...

I just can't wait to get back on the road again...
Well, the wait is coming to an end.  Tomorrow I should be heading down to malaysia.  As is I've already overstayed my visa here by five days so I'll be paying a hefty fine when I get to the border.  Better than getting locked up in prison though I guess. 
Not sure exactly what my plans are, but I think I'll probably spend a few days in a hill station in the Cameron Highlands cooling off in the crisp mountain air and walking through the tea fields.  After that I'll head down to Kuala Lumpur to see a bit of the city and then on to Singapore.  There I should be meeting up with Dave -- the guy I'll be working with in Bangladesh -- to help him get things prepared to "mobilize".  After that I expect I'll head back up through malaysia, make a stop at the Thai embassy in Panang, then come back here, pick up the rest of my stuff, head up to Bangkok, get my visa for Bangladesh and then go work on the River.  At least that's how I'm hoping it will work out.  You never really know though.  Things change.
I'll successfully be leaving without finishing my Dive Master training =)  That should leave one person a bit peeved that he has to hang onto my file...  I'll be back though.  Who knows.  Maybe in between malaysia and bangladesh, or maybe after bangladesh.  Or maybe I'll just come back after heading home for September.  Speaking of which, I should really start thinking about those arrangements...
Take care all,
Jf

Die Verwandlung

It's been a good week. I had some really nice dives and the antibiotics I got for my lingering ear ache and cough seem to have helped.  

About a week ago I walked into the dive shop a little before noon intending to have a simple lunch and then go over to the other dive company where the friend I'll be working with works and try on a different full face mask.  When I showed up at at the shop, one of my friends was trying to recruit enough paying customers so that could arrange a spur of the moment afternoon dive on the small boat.  We have three boats -- big boat, medium boat and little boat (pretty much self explanatorily named).  One of them was taking students out for the afternoon and the other one was out for a full day excursion to a dive site that's further than the usual ones.  That morning a Whale shark had been spotted at one of the deep dive sites nearby though and Tom wanted to go whale shark hunting.  He succeeded in finding enough customers, but suddenly realized nobody was around to take them out so as I was eating my lunch he asked if I could lead a group of four.  Hmm...  Sure, why not.  Let me just call and see if I can reschedule my other plans... 

A few minutes later I was packed up and ready to go.  Tom, another DM, 12 or so fun divers and I all hopped on the truck to the pier, got on little boat and headed out to Southwest Pinnacle.  Ok, leading fun dives isn't particularly complicated, but it helps if you know the site and know where all the interesting things to see are.  I'd personally only done it once and that time all I did was take two girls out and make sure they got back to the boat when they were out of air.  The site we were going to is a gorgeous one but I haven't dived it too much so far so I wouldn't be the best tour guide -- fortunately the customers had only dived a few times themselves so they didn't really know any better...  Half way through the dive I heard somebody banging their tank and assumed that was the sign that the whale shark had been spotted.  Unfortunately I didn't catch the signal clearly enough -- five bangs followed by a pause and then the location -- one bang for north, two for east, three for south, four for west.  Fortunately I saw Tom and he had heard and understood the signal. 

So off we were.  We rounded the pinnacle and there in the distance I could just catch a glimpse of it.  I turned around and pointed to my divers and tried to hurry them in that direction in hopes they too could see it before it swam too far off to see.  Three spead off after it but when I looked back I saw one was hanging behind -- she had tiny feet and wore small fins that don't do much for propulsion...  Obviously the first rule of taking divers out is not to lose any of them so I turned back, grabbed her by the tank and kicked as hard as I could until we caught up with the others -- unfortunately too late to catch up with the shark...

The two guys in my group were low on air so I sent them back up with another group meandered around for another five minutes with the girls before heading back up to the boat.  That's when the fun really began.  I don't know exactly how it happened but we pulled up anchor, moved the boat a bit and then somebody saw it.  Just off the starbord side of the boat the whale shark was swimming around on the surface -- within 20 seconds everybody was back in the water.  Some actually took the time to put fins on but I just jumped in with my mask.  We spent the next half hour swimming around the surface with it while some other divers swam under it.  Then we hopped back on the boat, got geared back up and jumped right back into the water for one of the most unusual dives I've had here.  Normally you go down on or at least near a boughy line that the boats tied up to and one that's there for a reason -- some formation of coral on a rocky pinnacle, but at this point we weren't anywhere near a divesite anymore.  Just ten of us, a whale shark and the deep blue sea.  Soon after getting in the whale shark decided to descend -- 5 meters... 10 meters...  15 meters...  20 meters...  We followed.  Then he changed his mind and headed up to the surface.  At this point I thought it might be a good idea to find my two divers -- the girls sat the second dive out.  When I saw them and we exchanged our OK symbols and swam after the rest of the divers I noticed the crowd was growing.  We were no longer 10 but now more like twenty.  I looked over and saw one of my friends Sarah waving at me.  Huh!  She wasn't on our boat...  Then I turn around and see Kris.  Kris!!!  Suddenly it all made sense.  I knew he'd gone out on the full day boat to Sail Rock.  Apparently they'd heard about the whale shark on their way back and decided to meet up with us.  Later I heard that they had all entered the water right as the whale shark left us for the surface -- in fact it probably left us to see who the new arrivals were!  So now's where the dive got a bit wierd.  I had no idea where we were but figured we'd be fine as long as we all stuck together.  I couldn't see the whale shark but I assume up at the front somebody could and was following it because we were swimming.  Thirty euphoric divers swimming through the nothingness joking around with their unexpectedly reunited friends.  Eventually we all just stopped.  Tom went up to the surface, came back down, borrowed somebody slate and wrote "Southwest 60 degrees".  We all looked at our compasses and like a flock of birds flying in a formation 30 divers turned northeast more or less in unison and headed back to the boat. 

Back on the boat we had the brilliant idea of packing up quickly and transferring our gear over to medium boat so we could ride back in comfort like civilized people -- not to mention have a beer (not a normal occurence on the boats but stocked specially for the end of the day long excursion).  It's hard to convey the mood.  Whale sharks are kind of that elusive thing that everybody else seems to see but some people always miss.  I know a girl who's been on the island 6 years and has never seen one.  Other people come for a few dives and see them every time.  So imagine a boat of 30 divers.  Some of them here for a week amazed at their good fortune and others here for longer likewise euphoric about the strange twist of events that brought all of us back together for such an odd and unexpected and fun reunion.

 

The next morning I woke up and headed over to "big fish" to assist on an open water course for another company.  Henrik was taking out two students and during the surface interval between dives I was going to try on another full face mask. This one was bigger, heavier and zipped all the way on and then tucked into my wet suit -- so there were no exercises to take it off an put it back on again under water.  While I was there though he said I was welcome to join them on the class if I wanted to dive.  So now I've dived with two companies here.  That afternoon we went back out on a longtail -- thus named because the propeller is attached to a long stick that the boat boy lowers into the water and maneuvers to stare rather than using a rudder -- and tried out the GPS again.  This time we attached the echosounder to the stick so that it was pointing down rather than the boat...  amazingly the water was in fact deeper than 1 foot. 

 

The next day I was asked to assist on the last two days of a german open water course.  Interesting but a bit frustrating because the instructor was brand new.  The students were great but she had them all wearing wet suits one or two sizes too large and carrying too much weight.  As the DMT though it's my responsibility not disagree with her in front of the students...  Poor guys.  She took so much time to do all the exercises that they never really had any time to dive.

 

Finally spent the next two days just going on some fun dives.  It's the half moon so the difference between high and low tide is at a minimum which tends to give the best dive conditions -- low currents and good visibility.  I ended up going out with a new DMT and here's where I finally come back to explain the title for this entry.  Die Verwandlung -- that was the original title to Franz Kafkas short story "the metamorphosis".  An austrian friend of mine is just about to finish up two weeks of instructor training.  I asked him a few days into it (sarcastically) if he could feel the transformation taking place.  I was searching for the word and thought Verwandlung from the Kafka story was fitting. 

Well over the last week I've been thinking more and more about the transformation I've gone through.  You don't really notice it happening because obviously it's just one of those slow changes that comes with experience.  but then you go out diving with somebody who's new and you realize now you're the experienced one and it's your turn to lead the dive and show the other guy around.  And he's looking at you and expects you to actually know what you're doing and where you're going.  Then you think about it for a second and realize you do! 

"Hmm, White Rock.  This is one of the favorite sites which you'll find we go to so often you may quickly get sick of it.  There's a turtle that sometimes hangs out around 210 degrees off the south boughy.  Wanna go turtle hunting?"  And just like that you realize two months ago somebody was saying pretty much the same thing to you.  Ok, I know that doesn't sound like much of a transformation.  That's more like moving into a new town and slowly learning where all the cool places to hang out are.  It's more than that though.  I don't know exactly how when or why it happened, but a few weeks ago I noticed I wasn't using the flutter kick anymore.  I've almost completely switched over to the frog kick.  I remember when I was a new diver I asked a few people why it was so popular with experienced divers.  One of the answers was it doesn't kick up as much sand.  The other day I was out with a dive master who took two "paying customers" out for a fun dive.  They were new but they were good divers.  They weren't waving their hands all over the place.  They had good boyancy control.  But I noticed when they swam close to the sand they tended to kick it up.  Then I looked down my chest at my feet and noticed I was even closer to the sand but wasn't kicking any up.  "Wow, it's true, the frog kick really is good for that!" 

Navigations gotten a lot easier too.  I know jumping in the water and swimming in one direction, then turning around and swimming back doesn't sound all that complicated, but you have to understand.  When you're down there, you can't see as far.  That and the location of the sun isn't as obvious so it does make it a bit harder to just keep going in a straight line unless you check your compass rather frequently.  And that's something that's slowly becoming more habitual -- constantly keeping track of what direction I'm headed so I'll have a general idea of which way to go back.

Mainly it's just a matter of confidence though.  It's a good feeling.  

 

Ok, I need to get going.  Still not sure when I'll be heading to bangladesh, but from what I hear it sounds like things are finally starting to happen and it should be relatively soon...

ciao,

Jf

things change quickly...

Well a day after I last wrote the guy showed up again.  I guess when he said he was coming back saturday, he meant the saturday a week after I expected because he was indeed back on Saturday...  Anyway, the bangladesh trip is still on, just not sure exactly when.  Last I heard he expected we'd be going late this month.  From life experience though I have to assume that's probably a hopeful expectation.  So maybe later.  Who knows.  Will just have to wait and see.
In other news, I'm now a bar man.  Two nights ago I spent my first time on the other side of the bar!  Woo hoo!  My resume is really shaping up now!  Mostly I just served beer and helped clean up, but I did make a few cocktails.  Next time I'm sure I'll be making more and before you know it I'll be a regular Tom Cruise from Cocktail =) 
Not much else to talk about.  The other day I went out on a boat with another dive company (the other guy going to bangladesh works there) and we played around with a GPS and echo sounder that we'll use for surveying the river before we lay the cable.  Then he took me out to try on the full face mask that we'll be using when we occasionally need to go in the water.  It was different.  About ten minutes under water after taking the mask off, putting it back on and clearing the water out of it I suddenly remembered I could breathe through my nose if I wanted.  I'd gotten so used to breathing through my mouth under water...
That's pretty much it for now.
Take care all,
Jf

I'm alive.

I'm safe.
I'm still in thailand.
Not diving much recently.
Enjoying a book -- the devil in the white city.
Feeling a little bit stuck in limbo...
And apparently, somehow, typing on a dvorak keyboard...
Ok, that last one isn't true.  I don't know how to type on a dvorak keyboard, but somehow I accidentally switched the settings over to it and had to figure out how to switch them back before i could continue with this message.
A little over a month ago I met somebody here who works in commercial diving.  He offered me a job on a barge.  Sounded interesting but he didn't know the timing back then so I didn't think too much of it.  A few weeks ago he said they'd gotten the contract and would probably be going at the end of this month.  I said I was interested if the offer was still there.  He said it was.  Last week he needed to go to singapore for a few days though to start mobilizing some of the equipment.  I was hoping to fill out some visa forms before he left, but he didn't have them yet.  He isn't back from singapore.  I'm slowly starting to think I won't be working on a barge in bangladesh after all.  I suppose I should have gotten his contact information before he left.  Oh well. 
I guess that means it's time for me to figure out what to do now and where to go next.  I'm sick of sitting in the same place.  Need to get back on the road.  I don't think I'll finish my dive master training before I leave -- that way I can always come back and dive for free and I have no real intent on working as an official dive master anyway.  I'll finish the book part though.  That way I can get rid of the dead weight before leaving. 
So I guess in the next few days I'll be flipping a lot of coins trying to settle on a new direction. 
That and looking for cheap flights.
ciao

crappy keyboards...

ok, the left shift key on this keyboard doesn't work and a lot of the keys stick a bit in general so excuse the lack of certain punctuation and capital letters...  OUCH!  yowswers, the caps lock does work, and i needed to emphasize that because i just smacked my foot on the chair where i scraped it the other day on the boat -- uh, that where refers to the location on my foot, not the chair...  talk about misplaced modifiers... 
yeah, i know, it's been another two weeks since i last checked in.  i hear krk is back at hwt.  the world very well may be coming to an end.  i'll hold out a bit longer though.  hopefully until the real end of the world.  in the meantime i'll just enjoy life in paradise...
speaking of paradise.  i'm going to complain a little bit here.  it's raining -- a lot.  not just buckets, but the last few days its been overcast and rainy all day.  i shouldn't be complaining because a few days ago i was afraid it would hit 45 degrees on Friday.  it didn't.  actually friday was quite beautiful.  but since then the clouds hit and now it's a bit chilly.  still, better than 45 degrees of heat!  for clarification i'm talking in centigrade...
i don't know how much longer i'll last here though.  haven't figured out where i'm going next, but i think another month of this and i'll be happy to leave.  it's nice here, but it just isn't the place for me. 
i feel like there's huge holes in my thoughts here.  it's true.  i keep jumping from topic to topic when i'm not ever talking about anything.  i'm feeling a bit scatter brained tonight.  Think i may have a bit of a cold and it's clouding my head. 
maybe next time i go online i'll actually have something to say.  oh yeah, visa runs.  Was going to talk about that.  too tired to right now though.  sorry.
next time...

yowsers!

didn't realize I've gone two weeks without checking in.  Sorry about that.  Like I said, internet is a bit expensive here, and as my favorite britishism goes, "I just can't be bothered" to go through the trouble of going on line.  Life is pretty laid back here.  I'm paying about a hundred dollars a month for a room 10 minutes from my dive center.  Most people rent bikes (uh, that is a motorcycle), but so far I've been perfectly happy walking around and occasionally hitching a ride when I need to go further.  There's always taxis -- pick up trucks where everybody hops in the bed -- but you can't "split" a ride because the charge per person no many how many you are.  They also don't haggle -- there's a set rate for specific trips (rates which I personally find exorbitant).  Although apparently they won't let you haggle, but occasionally they will rip you off if you don't know any better.  One guy said he spent 200 bhat (one dollar is 35 bhat) to get here from the harbor.  That ride normally only costs 50. 
I eat a lot of thai food which hasn't gotten boring yet.  And yes, that includes thai satay.  Now whether any of this is really authentic stuff that thai people eat, I don't know.  but I eat it. 
My "bungalow" is clean and comfortable and consists of a bedroom and bathroom -- no kitchen.  But it's nice. 
I finally ate durian the other night!  That was something I've only waited the last 7 or so years to try.  It was a bit of a let down.  Supposedly it stinks so bad you don't want to eat it, but it tastes delicious.  I didn't think it smelled particularly bad or tasted particularly special.  It was good, but nothing extraordinary. 
Diving's been nice, but I've taken it easy.  Some days I make 4 dives, some days none.  Usually I'll do a few days of diving followed by a few days off.  The people here are friendly and always changing.  I'm amazed by the number of germans!  I'd say 20 percent of the people here are german and I end up spending a third of the time speaking german rather than english. 
As for my back pack, I'm considering downsizing, but haven't taken any steps in that direction.  I lost my sleeping bag in india.  I have way too many wool sock for this climate.  Every day I pretty much wear the same thing -- one pair of boxers which have become my dive boxers (as in I wear them under my wet suit) and my swimming trunks.  My black long sleeve patagonia shirt (which is so dirty it can probably stand up on it's own now!) During the dive I strip down to the boxers and afterwards put on the shorts but usually go shirtless (which is how the shirt has lasted the last week or so without a wash).  Afterwards I head home, shower and put on my "clean clothes".  A different pair of boxers, a second pair of shorts, one of two shirts, and of course the same flip flops.  So for as much as I have in my back pack, I'm really only using 3 shirts, three pair of boxers, two shorts and flip flops.  I could easily ditch a lot of stuff given this life style.  Even after leaving the beach life, I'd like to down size a bit.  I'm curious if I can fit everything I need in a 10 liter dry bag...
That's about it for now. 
Enjoy the working life =)

Just went on my first dive in Thailand today

and it was great.  I was a bit stressed this morning.  Couldn't fall asleep until late last night, woke up tired, packed, walked 45 minutes with my backpack over to the dive center to get a room closer, was drenched in sweat...  Then this morning we had CPR "instruction" and after lunch we went out on the boat for two dives.  I was the "rescue diver" which basically meant every few minutes somebody was yelling "Pizza! Pizza!"  -- code for "help! help!" during simuated exercises so everybody else knows the person isn't really drowning. 

Well, it was my first time diving with budhaview, so it was obviously my first time using their equipment or riding on their boats or using their protocol.  For that matter it was my first time doing any of that anywhere other than with Dive India in Andaman!  What a difference -- in andaman we road little 12 person boats (those were the biggest) that were pretty much old boards of wood glued together propelled by an agricultural motor intended for pumping water on farms...  The boats we road today were quite a bit more sophisticated -- and big!  Everybody actually puts together their tanks and regulators -- something we only did for practice in andaman -- the boat boys took care of it for you on the boat.  So it was a different experience.  That and the XXL wetsuit here is quite a bit bigger than XXL I was used to -- so I was wearing an oversized suit which messed up my boyancy.  I did ok though, and I have to say by the time we were headed back on the boat, I felt wide awake and energized!  It was amazing.  There's just something about spending a little time under water that makes everything else around you seem so much better.  

Ok, time for me to go socialize with some new people and see if I can get a decent nights sleep before my tests tomorrow...

 

I know, I've been bad...

Haven't updated much lately.  I'm back to island life and with that comes hyper expensive internet connection fees...  I've started my rescue dive course and once I'm through with that I can start dive master training.  They basically let you dive as much as you want as long as you want (within reason -- that was their wording anyway).  Given that the thai government lets you stay here a cumulative 90 days within every 6 months and no more than 30 days in a row at one time (meaning you have to run to the border and then come back if you want to stay longer than 30 days), I expect I'll be here a few months.  So if anybody feels like visiting in Thailand, just let me know!  The DMT program sounds relatively flexible, so it's not a big deal if I leave the island for a week or more and come back to resume the training.  So I'd be up to some side trips to malasia, burma, cambodia or vietnam too (or anywhere else nearby...)

The last few days of sleep deprivation have caught up with me though and last night I overslept.  I was supposed to show up at 9 this morning but didn't wake until 9:45!  Usually I'm up as soon as it's light out so I didn't think I'd need to set an alarm.  I won't be making the same mistake today... 

Ok, I'd better go before I run up this internet bill.  Just wanted to say I'm having a great time here so far.